Mobile devices are ubiquitous and may include a smartphone, tablet computer, portable digital assistant (PDA), portable game console, palmtop computer, and other portable electronic devices. In addition to the primary function of these devices, many include peripheral functions. Applications may be installed on the mobile device to provide these peripheral functions. In an example, an application is provided by a third party, and a user may download the application onto the mobile device. In another example, the user receives the mobile device with the application already installed on the mobile device. One of the most common use cases after telephony on modern mobile devices is Web browsing. A mobile device may include the primary function of making telephone calls and the peripheral functions of Web browsing, which may be data heavy and time-consuming. As websites become more dynamic and heavy, the processing power required by the device to support such Web browsing functionality also increases.
Battery life is a key metric for mobile device users. If a user's smartphone is running low on battery power, the user may not want to start power hungry applications or games. In low-battery situations, conventional techniques may provide the user with information on which applications or games on the device are power hungry by using heuristics and information provided by the operating system. The power consumption rate for applications or games on the mobile device may be consistent and not dependent on different factors. It may be difficult, however, to estimate a power consumption rate for browsers that are dependent on various factors.